Table of Contents
Harry Sahota presents Tamralipta, the port he places at Tamluk south of Kolkata, as a city British record-keeping let disappear. Gour Das Bysack, he says, found a deserted fort and old sherds in the late nineteenth century and thought the find would redo the subcontinent’s past. If officials had had their way, Sahota claims, the harbor might have stayed hidden, until twentieth-century digs, including Roman jars and gold coins, forced a revision. Epic passages in the script link the name to Krishna and the sun, a horse sacrifice stopped by King Vinda, and a Kali temple tied to Bhima. Ships then carry copper and cloth, Ashoka’s children sail with Buddhist teachings, a Chinese visitor counts monasteries, and Gupta traffic reaches far coasts. Decline follows the breakup of that empire and a shift of the Rupnarayan until the old channel could not take ships. For a long stretch after that, he says, almost nothing of the port stayed in view.
Key points
- Sahota identifies Tamralipta with Tamluk and says British institutions first ignored the fort find.
- He treats twentieth-century digs, including Roman coins and jars, as the proof that reopened the port’s story.
- Epic episodes in the video link the city to Krishna, a horse sacrifice, and Bhima.
- The port is described as a copper and cloth harbor and as a departure point for Buddhist missions.
- Chinese and Roman notices, then Gupta ocean trade, mark its high period.
- A moving river and the end of Gupta power are his explanation for the harbor’s disappearance.
Short quotes
But 100 years later, in the 1970s, what was discovered has definitely rewritten Indian history.
Harry Sahota, The port of Tamralipta
He treats the later excavations as a break in the standard story of the coast. Watch at 1:59
His ships carried copper, cotton, silk indigo across the world.
Harry Sahota, The port of Tamralipta
A legendary king is credited with an export trade in metal and cloth. Watch at 4:04
For centuries, Tamralipta vanished from history
Harry Sahota, The port of Tamralipta
The channel’s cover-up frame ends in a long gap with almost no visible city. Watch at 6:13
Video by Harry Sahota. Watch on YouTube.